Everything old is new again / The burbs take on town airs in Hercules' New Urban experiment -- so far, everyone's loving it

Charles Smith, Special to The Chronicle

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, March 19, 2005

Photo: Lance Iversen

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Patrick Tang and his son Jeremy age 3 play in front of Jeremy's aunts home on Baywood Lane in the Baywood development in Hercules. The Tangs live in a neighboring development called Promenade that has new homes built in Italianate, Victorian and Craftsman design. Hercules is a bastion of what is called the New Urbanism, which emphasizes the importance of distinctive homes and self-sufficient neighborhoods, which is an unusual concept in the suburbs. By Lance Iversen/San Francisco Chronicle less

HERCULES_127.jpg_
Patrick Tang and his son Jeremy age 3 play in front of Jeremy's aunts home on Baywood Lane in the Baywood development in Hercules. The Tangs live in a neighboring development called Promenade ... more

Photo: Lance Iversen

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A pedestrian walks from the promenade development to the Baywood development scene in background. Baywood homes are Victorian and Craftsman designs. Hercules is a bastion of what is called the New Urbanism, which emphasizes the importance of distinctive homes and self-sufficient neighborhoods, which is an unusual concept in the suburbs. By Lance Iversen/San Francisco Chronicle less

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A pedestrian walks from the promenade development to the Baywood development scene in background. Baywood homes are Victorian and Craftsman designs. Hercules is a bastion of what is called ... more

Photo: Lance Iversen

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Lita Tang and sons Jeremy age 3 and Kendall age 7 work on crafts in the kitchen of their 32,500 Sq foot Craftsman style home in Hercules. The Tangs live in a development called Promenade that has new homes built in Italianate, Victorian and Craftsman design. Hercules is a bastion of what is called the New Urbanism, which emphasizes the importance of distinctive homes and self-sufficient neighborhoods, which is an unusual concept in the suburbs. By Lance Iversen/San Francisco Chronicle less

HERCULES_036.jpg_
Lita Tang and sons Jeremy age 3 and Kendall age 7 work on crafts in the kitchen of their 32,500 Sq foot Craftsman style home in Hercules. The Tangs live in a development called Promenade that ... more

Photo: Lance Iversen

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Potted plants and American flags lot front porches at a Hercules development called Promenade. These are all new homes built in Italianate, Victorian and Craftsman design. Hercules is a bastion of what is called the New Urbanism, which emphasizes the importance of distinctive homes and self-sufficient neighborhoods, which is an unusual concept in the suburbs. By Lance Iversen/San Francisco Chronicle less

HERCULES_010.jpg_
Potted plants and American flags lot front porches at a Hercules development called Promenade. These are all new homes built in Italianate, Victorian and Craftsman design. Hercules is a ... more

Photo: Lance Iversen

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HERCULES_075.jpg_
Victorian and Craftsman designs in the Baywood development. Hercules is a bastion of what is called the New Urbanism, which emphasizes the importance of distinctive homes and self-sufficient neighborhoods, which is an unusual concept in the suburbs. By Lance Iversen/San Francisco Chronicle less

HERCULES_075.jpg_
Victorian and Craftsman designs in the Baywood development. Hercules is a bastion of what is called the New Urbanism, which emphasizes the importance of distinctive homes and self-sufficient ... more

Photo: Lance Iversen

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Everything old is new again / The burbs take on town airs in Hercules' New Urban experiment -- so far, everyone's loving it

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There was something different about the cluster of new homes coming up in the bayside town of Hercules, different enough that Patrick and Lita Tang noticed it from a passing Capitol Corridor train. That brief glimpse led them to visit the new neighborhood; shortly afterward, they sold their Oakland hills house and moved into one of the new homes in Hercules.

What's so different about Hercules? Commonsense ideas, including easy access to transit, conveniences within walking distance and houses greeting visitors instead of driveways and garage doors are at the root of the zoning ordinance that citizens of Hercules helped its city government develop four years ago.

The ordinance, based on the design principles for homes and neighborhoods known as New Urbanism, mandates such features as garages in the rear of houses, accessed via alleys; "in-law" units above garages; and live-work units, described as "vertical mixed use" because the homeowners live above their offices.

It also requires "traditional neighborhood" layouts with narrower, calmer streets; a greater range of housing choices, including attached townhouses and single-family homes; and walking and bicycling access that's built-in, not an afterthought.

Since Hercules enacted its ordinance, the city has become a living example of what New Urbanism looks like in a suburban setting. "The architectural design of the houses was the first attraction," Lita Tang said. "Older-style homes, but with all the latest amenities and functional floor plans. This was not your typical suburban tract, filled with white stucco homes with front-loaded garages. Then there was the setting, overlooking San Pablo Bay."

The promise of urban conveniences also appealed to the Tangs.

"In the near future," Lita said, "we'll be able to walk literally across the street to a convenience store, restaurant and transportation connecting to other parts of the Bay Area. It couldn't have been better, and we were instantly sold when we drove up to the development."

What attracted the Tangs has also drawn many others; sales -- and appreciation -- have been brisk. Based on the Tangs' recommendation, several of their friends and relatives purchased homes in the neighborhood.

Hercules is in the forefront of New Urbanism in the Bay Area for two reasons: It includes one of the largest undeveloped parcels of bayside land in the region, and the town's residents and leaders share a cohesive vision of their town's future.

Hercules had a rare swath of undeveloped land because the entire town was, until the 1970s, reserved for manufacturing dynamite and for buffer zones around the dynamite plant. By the 1990s, however, the plant was a memory, and thousands of homes lined the hills around a 400-acre vacant area extending to the waterfront along San Pablo Bay.

Like many other residents of this culturally diverse town of 22,000, Steve Lawton was concerned about what would be built in the barren heart of the town. Lawton, a high-tech consultant who had bought a refurbished historic house once inhabited by employees of the Hercules Powder Works, developed enough expertise in the planning process that he was asked first to be a planning commissioner and then to join the city staff as director of community development.

Lawton's involvement grew from the experiences of his youth and career. "I grew up in Los Angeles, so I knew that growth would come to any privately owned undeveloped land in the Bay Area," he said. "I worked in the application end of the technology business, so I saw firsthand how innovation could transform whole industries.

"In 2000, I noticed that innovation was possible in planning this remaining central part of Hercules. The city hired one of the best urban designers and organized an open public process, and the neighbors were eager to participate in constructive planning."

Since then, Lawton reports, the plan has mostly worked, although it hasn't been easy. "Soon, the development will be completed," he said, "and not only will this be a better place for future generations to live and work, it will demonstrate a new way for California to grow."

The General Plan continues to draw support from residents old and new; Joe Eddy McDonald, chairman of the Planning Commission, exemplifies the commitment of Hercules' residents to the city's future. A resident since 1984, he served as its postmaster until his retirement in 2002. Because reviewing all new development plans was one of his Postal Service responsibilities, it was a natural progression, he said, to join the Planning Commission.

The town's success, McDonald said, reflects the inherently optimistic vision of the citizens. "The community understands that we have a unique opportunity to create this special city," he said, "and our diversity is one of our strengths." No ethnic group constitutes a majority in Hercules, which is home to African Americans, Asians and Caucasians.

Citizen contributions, McDonald said, are a continuing part of the city's planning; the process of selecting the anchor tenant for a major retail center, for example, includes public forums. What sets the new Hercules developments apart from standard suburbia is the attention paid to public spaces and residential architecture, and a land plan that combines a variety of uses in a compact "town center" accessible not just to drivers, but also pedestrians.

The alternative, sprawl, is the path of least resistance for new development spreading from Tracy, Modesto and other Central Valley towns: an unrelated series of subdivisions with no commercial and civic heart, located far from services and poorly served by transit.

"Building sprawl is the default," Lawton said. "The subdivisions, roadways and strip mall designs can all be lifted right off a page. But to be livable, a city has to be more than a collection of subdivisions."

The magic ingredient in planning New Urbanist places, Lawton said, is a new kind of zoning ordinance, called a "form-based code," that tells developers the shape of streets and buildings to be used. In conventional zoning, pedestrian byways, bike lanes and well-proportioned, calm streets get lost in the drive to build "housing products."

Form-based codes give cities the upper hand to create sensible street networks, neighborhoods with centers and edges, and a mix of high- and low- density housing. The other magic ingredient, Lawton said, is time -- the time needed to build incrementally and to amend and adapt as the community grows and changes.

Sustained support by town officials, a "let's make this work" attitude and access to redevelopment funds are other key factors in the town's success, Lawton said, along with "patient developers with deep experience in the complicated approval process."

Of the three new districts planned for Hercules, one has been completed and two are nearing completion. Each embodies innovations based on New Urbanist principles.

In the Waterfront District, each of the residential neighborhoods -- a traditional mix of 207 single-family homes, a village of 78 smaller, less- expensive dwellings, and a transit village of higher-density apartments -- is within walking distance of the new Historic Town Center, the mixed-use core of the plan, which provides for about 160 units of live-work space, along with retail, restaurants and services.

Although the Waterfront District looks isolated at the moment, it will be connected with the existing town center on the other side of Interstate 80, with a main street along Sycamore Avenue. The city's overall plan includes a new Capitol Corridor passenger rail station, relocating and enlarging the existing express-bus facility connecting to BART. Out of this will come a commercial New Town Center, and a "Hill Town" on an undeveloped parcel above the freeway.

A bridge across protected riparian wetlands will give residents access to a new big-box shopping complex that will separate the new residential/mixed- use development from an existing commercial-industrial complex to the north.

"We're planning for 40 years in the future," Lawton said. "It's the only way to give the next generation a decent place to live."

Though every city has a general plan and zoning, planning laws aren't enough to change decades of conventional auto-oriented development practice. To innovate requires assiduous attention to details and the will to overcome entrenched resistance.

"The accomplishment is to get production builders and architects to design and build the details correctly," said Daniel Parolek of Opticos Design Inc., the firm hired by Hercules to oversee the final design work. "Every general plan talks the talk, but to walk the walk you need a form-based code which is flexible on uses but fairly demanding on appearance, and the political will to enforce it."

This means having rules for how buildings "address the street": the building form and placement, overall character and quality of finish. The rules must be ordinances, not just guidelines; the developer's builders and architects have to work closely with the "vision keepers" hired by the city to ensure that their designs and materials are in sync with the city's plan

This system, Parolek said, is much more collaborative and hands-on, and therefore more productive, than the standard design-review process in which developers put up a design that more often than not gets shot down for vague or conflicting reasons.

The Hercules plan, he said, is careful about the look and quality of each building, but flexible on uses. "Good urban plans need to evolve," he said. "You need to define the character and quality of the public spaces and streets, and then allow uses to adapt and grow within that framework."

The payoff, he said, is consistently high-quality design of buildings and neighborhoods with day-to-day amenities within walking distance of a variety of residences.

"A neighborhood isn't just a collection of houses," he said. "Developers aren't just selling square footage in a house, they're selling a place, and ultimately it's up to the city to have that vision and hold developers to it."

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